The present invention generally relates to the demonstration of a proposed lighting solution to a customer. More specifically, the invention relates to the rendering of an image which can be adjusted in real time according to a customer's needs so to demonstrate an achievable lighting solution without having to set up an actual lighting system.
In the current state of the art of lighting, there is typically a long lead time between when a customer determines a lighting need and when a product is installed and available for evaluation. Generally, the target area must be surveyed, a lighting design must be developed, a lighting system must be manufactured, and the lighting system must be installed on site. After all of this is complete, a customer sees the target area illuminated for the first time; if the result is undesirable, there is little recourse. Recently, there have been advancements in temporary lighting installations that permit a customer to evaluate various achievable lighting solutions before committing to a purchase; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/604,572, issued as U.S. Pat. No. 8,734,163 on May 27, 2014 incorporated by reference herein discloses some possible temporary lighting systems.
While temporary lighting installations help to solve some deficiencies in the current state of the art, more can be done to improve the relationship between a customer and lighting supplier by allowing a customer to provide more input at the beginning of the design process, and helping a customer to understand what variables should be considered and how they may be adjusted to address the customer's lighting needs. One deficiency that still exists in the art—even with temporary lighting installations—is that a professional must travel to the target area, set up the lighting system, wait until it is dark, start the system, and make various adjustments (e.g., to account for ambient light). This process generally takes an entire evening and so the professional must wait another day to actually demonstrate the system to the customer (and the customer must arrive after dark to view the demonstration). Additionally, while temporary lighting systems are an improvement over the current state of the art—at least in terms of demonstration ability—to alter a temporary lighting system to address a change in lighting needs can hardly be described as real-time. Often, optical components (e.g., diffusers, color gels, lenses) must be adjusted or traded out of each luminaire in the temporary lighting system before a new lighting solution can be demonstrated; by the time this is completed, the customer may have forgotten what the previous lighting solution looked like. Thus, there is room for improvement in the art.